This activity is related to BizAIDS HVCT (#8898).

BizAIDS conducts a series of workshops on HIV/AIDS for individuals involved in micro and small businesses in all nine provinces. These workshop sessions include complete information about HIV/AIDS prevention, CT, and ART, with an emphasis on AB for prevention. All people that attend the sessions learn about the importance of AB for HIV prevention and a significant proportion opt for on-site CT services as well. BizAIDS provides participants with AB prevention messages integrated into training workshops. In FY 2006, the program disseminated prevention messages to a total of 2,468 individuals. BizAIDS works with local development organizations that are affiliated to the Zambia Chamber of Small and Medium Businesses (ZCSMBA) in rural areas of Zambia and is successful at reaching individuals who would usually not have access to AB prevention information.

The program is implemented through local trainers and facilitators that undergo training of trainers in the BizAIDS methodology with a focus on information sharing within households and at the community level. The BizAIDS methodology is a process that has been developed to mitigate HIV/AIDS in small and medium businesses and surrounding communities through the provision of training in health, business, and legal aspects, within the scope of the impact of HIV/AIDS on these communities. In FY 2007, BizAIDS will work with local organizations to train 120 individuals on AB prevention. The trained local prevention communicators will work within the communities to disseminate AB messages to a total of 6,000 individuals.

The program will convey AB messages to and work with youth, adults, people living with HIV/AIDS, HIV/AIDS affected families, widow and widowers, business community, community leaders, and community-based organizations in the program areas. This will also contribute to increased capacity of the local communities in sharing AB messages through the training of local community leaders in implementing prevention strategies on HIV/AIDS.

In FY 2007, BizAIDS will continue to work with local district business associations, cooperatives, and women's groups and provide the BizAIDS methodology as an additional service to their members. The BizAIDS materials include AB messages and also serve as a basis for community mobilization on HIV prevention. Prevention messages include educating participants on various modes of HIV transmission, methods of preventing the transmission of the virus and how HIV/AIDS impacts on the livelihood of participants. Participants are also informed of the importance of CT and what to do if found positive. Workshops are conducted by BizAIDS trained facilitators.

BizAIDS will hold workshop sessions in 40 districts to provide participants with information on HIV/AIDS transmission and AB prevention. Participants will be encouraged to bring spouses to the sessions or to discuss HIV/AIDS with their family members at home. The workshop will focus on female-headed households and the impact the pandemic has on these vulnerable families. Sessions include a wide range of information that can easily be shared in the communities to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. The process of sharing information within and outside of workshops reduces stigma and discrimination as participants openly discuss issues related to HIV/AIDS in their communities. At these workshop sites and in the community, BizAIDS will offer on-site CT services and will encourage participation in voluntary counseling and testing as a way to enhance behavioral change.

The program will continue to work with the National HIV/AIDS/STI/TB Council, other NGOs and organizations, including the Health Communication Partnership (HCP) Project to access existing information, education, and communication materials and will distribute these IEC materials to the communities. In addition, the program will link BizAIDS local trainers and NGOs with other USG programs in their focus areas, such as MATEP and PROFIT.

The need to incorporate and strengthen AB prevention within BizAIDS training was recognized by the membership organizations and communities with which the program works. The BizAIDS program will focus on the provision of AB information and messages at two levels. The first level will focus on providing prevention targets for business

partners in the local communities that have largely remained as membership driven associations. The second level will focus on enhancing the capacity of trainers to incorporate the BizAIDS AB prevention curriculum within their programs.

In working through local organizations and trainers, the program has embarked on a process of ensuring that the AB activities performed by the local organizations become a sustained service element for membership driven groups. This has been emphasized during annual trainings for local communicators and members. Through training, BizAIDS develops the skills of local trainers to ensure that training can continue beyond the project period. In addition, volunteers from the US provide technical assistance and training of trainers to develop the capacity of local organizations. The program has encouraged various partners to collaborate in their efforts towards HIV prevention promoting abstinence and being faithful through exchange of trainers and lessons learned from implementing BizAIDS program. In particular, the program has been working and continues to work with Zambia Chamber of Small and Medium Business Association members at the district business Association level. As a step in institutionalizing the BizAIDS approach and training content, the BizAIDS training curricula has been integrated into the Centre for Informal Sector Employment (CISEP) and Luwaka School of Horticultural and Floriculture.

This activity relates to BizAIDS HVAB (#9878).

In its fourth year, BizAIDS will continue to implement a series of workshops on HIV/AIDS for individuals involved in micro and small businesses in all nine provinces. These workshop sessions include information about HIV/AIDS prevention, counseling and testing (CT), and antiretroviral treatment (ART), emphasizing AB for prevention and CT. All people that attend the sessions learn about the importance of knowing one's status and a significant proportion opt for on-site CT services. By mid-year FY 2006, the BizAIDS Program had already reached its annual VCT target. A total of 3,038 individuals, including 1,329 males and 1,709 females, underwent counseling and testing. The BizAIDS program focuses on increasing access of individuals involved in micro and small businesses to voluntary counseling and testing services for HIV/AIDS. The program provides HIV/AIDS information and encourages participants to share the same information with their spouses, children, and the community. As a result, couples and family members choose to undertake VCT. During workshop sessions, participants learn about the health effects associated with HIV/AIDS and develop plans to mitigate the impact that HIV/AIDS can have on their business, employees, and family. Through dialogue, participants are taken through a process that is designed to reduce stigma and discrimination in the workplace and at home and emphasizes the importance of CT. BizAIDS funds local organizations certified in counseling and test to attend workshops and provide on-site CT services.

The program will operate in the nine provinces of Zambia using local trainers that are affiliated to membership driven organizations. BizAIDS will have a special focus on groups of women, including widows and those who are taking care of their chronically ill husbands and family members. The program also provides legal information on asset protection through succession planning among the communities that are affected by HIV/AIDS.

In FY 2007, this BizAIDS intervention will provide on-site CT to 7,600 individuals. The program will target membership driven organizations including District Business Associations, women's cooperatives and groups, local development organizations, and other related groups working within the health and social development areas. In addition, the program has identified two private training institutions, Luwaka School of Horticultural and Floristry in Lusaka and Paglory College of Education and Professional Studies in Kabwe that will incorporate the BizAIDS program into their training curriculum based on a recommendation from the Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (TEVETA). The two institutions will work with trained CT providers, including Mwaroky HIV/AIDS Savers.

The BizAIDS program will continue to provide on-site mobile CT services in the targeted areas through local NGOs certified in HIV Counseling and Testing, such as Mwaroky HIV/AIDS Savers and Latkings Outreach Program. The program will refer participants that test positive to the local medical facilities and other existing local NGOs working in the area for care, treatment, and support services. To increase local capacity, IESC will arrange for volunteers from the U.S. to come to Zambia and mentor local organizations.

The program will contribute to increased capacity of local communities to promote and access prevention and CT services through the training of 30 local persons (who are affiliated with NGOs working with the BizAIDS program) in the BizAIDS model and CT certification. IESC will conduct three training of trainers for 30 participants each from 3 selected districts. This will result in a total of 90 persons trained. The program will work with KARA Counseling and Chainama Health Hospital for the CT certification. The local trainers will be drawn from the Zambia Chamber of Small and Medium Business Associations (ZCSMBA) trainers' database and other key local NGOs. These trained trainers will incorporate the BizAIDS training approach into local workshops and set up on-site counseling and testing in the local communities in which they operate. The certification will serve as an added service for ZCSMBA trainers and other membership organizations and will encourage health promotion activities and information sharing.

The BizAIDS program provides a simplified, multi-faceted approach to the mitigation of the impact of HIV/AIDS by using local partners and resources to ensure sustainability. It helps individuals, micro and small Zambian businesses (MSMEs), their owners, families, employees, and communities to access CT, prevention, care, and treatment services,

directly and indirectly. BizAIDS also provides participants with opportunities to access financial support through micro-credit as a means to enhance their incomes to meet the growing challenges of the pandemic at the household level.

BizAIDS promotes sustainability by working through local organizations and trainers to ensure that HIV/AIDS activities become an integral service element for members. This is emphasized during annual training of trainers. The BizAIDS program continues to provide refresher training for local trainers to ensure development of an appropriate level of skills. BizAIDS works through local business associations and places U.S. volunteers as mentors for the purpose of building local human capacity. The program encourages partners to collaborate in their efforts through exchange of trainers and lessons learned from implementing BizAIDS program. In particular, the program works with Zambia Chamber of Small and Medium Business Association members at the District Business Association level. BizAIDS is institutionalizing it model through the Center for Informal Sector Employment (CISEP) and Luwaka School of Horticultural and Floriculture.

In FY 2007, BizAIDS will directly provide CT services to 7,600 individuals and train 90 in CT.